A lthough it will be much more impressive later in the year, Mars is our planet of the month because of all the planets currently on view, it has the most interesting month ahead. Not only will it be bright enough to be seen easily with the naked eye, but it will have fascinating celestial close encounters with the Moon and other planets and will be steadily increasing in brightness as the days and nights pass. At the start of our observing period Mars will be a morning star, rising in the northeast around three hours before the Sun. It will be found close to the Pleiades star cluster in Taurus, and will have two other planets nearby, too. Brighter, silvery-blue Jupiter will be shining to its lower left, and much fainter, distant Uranus will be just to its left, barely two degrees away. By 16 July Mars and Uranus will be only half a degree apart, so you’ll be able to see them both together at the same time through a binocular or the low-power eyepiece of a telescope – a rare and lovely sight.